[Dixielandjazz] Jazz as Show Business !!!!!

[Steve barbone]

Happy Birthday, Bird. Not OKOM for everybody, BUT if you read the article,
you may find it interesting. Especially the audience reaction to fellow
Philadelphian Odean Pope (who??). See the last paragraph (last sentence) to
note the parallel between Pope and Preservation Hall performances . . . AND
AUDIENCE REACTION. Must be something in Philly's water. :-) VBG

Ah show business. Music is definitely better than following the elephants
(and scooping poop) during the circus parade. ;-) VBG

Cheers,
Steve 

It's Bebop for Everybody (You Know Who You Are)

By NATE CHINEN August 29, 2005 NY Times

"What if bebop ruled this world?"

Soweto Kinch, a bright young star of British jazz, posed that question at
the outset of his Charlie Parker Jazz Festival performance. It was Saturday
afternoon at Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem and Mr. Kinch was rapping the
verse of his single "Jazz Planet," a winking bit of wishful thinking that
sounds more like hip-hop than bebop. The festival audience, unquestionably a
jazz crowd, registered this irony with only slight amusement. It took a
sure-footed trumpet solo by Abram Wilson to elicit spontaneous applause.

Mr. Kinch was working at a disadvantage. As he explained from the stage, a
lip injury prevented him from playing the alto saxophone, his chief
instrument and most obvious connection to Parker. So he served instead as a
pianist and M.C., digging in with his lithe quintet for a sound somewhere
between A Tribe Called Quest and the old Wynton Marsalis Quartet. At the end
of the set, Mr. Kinch asked the crowd for topics to incorporate into a
freestyle rap; among the first eager responses were "beat," "peace" and
"family." Seeking a fourth subject, Mr. Kinch suggested "something funkier,
like 'hydroponics.' " The answer that bounced back was "Harlem."

Few jazz events in the city are as community-minded as the Charlie Parker
Jazz Festival, which has run for 13 years and received City Parks Foundation
support for the past three. Typically scheduled around its hero's birthday -
Parker, or Bird, would have turned 85 today - it takes place in
neighborhoods that figure into his life story. (Yesterday's event was at
Tompkins Square Park, near Parker's East Village apartment.) Free admission
ensures an inclusive atmosphere, but straight-ahead jazz fans are the
festival's core constituency. Saturday's opener, the Japanese pianist
Hiromi, fared best when she pounded gospel-tinged block chords redolent of
Bobby Timmons; her jacked-up synthesizer epic, "Kung Fu World Champion,"
landed with a thud.

Bobby Watson, a well-traveled alto saxophonist with more than a whiff of
Parker in his playing, received the most enthusiastic response over all. Mr.
Watson aimed for Johnny Hodges's sweeping sonorities on the ballad "In a
Sentimental Mood," which provoked a roar of approval within the first few
notes; he was more Bird-like on the brisk samba "Horizon Reassembled," and
more bitingly bluesy on a ditty called "Lemoncello." His quartet, featuring
the pianist Edward Simon, was top-notch.

But the most striking group was the Odean Pope Saxophone Choir, which
consists of nine saxophones and a rhythm section. Beginning with "Epitome,"
an original ballad, the band maintained a fervently exploratory yet
disciplined approach evocative of John Coltrane, Mr. Pope's post-Parker
lodestar. The arrangements were sharp and edgy; the soloists, especially
Louis Taylor on alto and Elliott Levin on tenor, played with focused
passion. For the set's bolerolike finale, every saxophonist except Mr. Pope
marched into the aisles, braying a cacophony of noises and bringing the
delighted crowd to its feet.